henry wallace, of course, many might remember was vice president under f.d.r. in late world war ii, had he been vice president instead of truman, things might have been very different. instead, he was the vice president and became secretary of commerce later. and he really was famous for being the most prominent u.s. politician in those early years of the cold war, for standing up against what he saw and many saw as a wrong headed, overly confrontational policy with the soviet union. >> so has your research complicated your understanding of the views of those two men and how they relate to one another? >> absolutely. and not just those two men but many others. i would say, you know, it made me realize, first, that their ideas were very much as we saw them, you know, for henry wallace, he was a man who was seeing himself as the legatee of f.d.r. and the new deal and the desire to extend those kinds of very democratic policies to the world. i think that is what people recognized at the time. that's what scared a lot of people and made a lot of people including ho

henry wallace, many may remember, was vice president under fdr in late world war ii. had he has been vice president and so truman, things might've been very different. instead, he was vice president and became secretary of commerce later. he was famous for being the most prominent u.s. politician in the early years of the cold war for standing up against what he saw and many saw was a wrongheaded, overly confrontational policy with the soviet union. has your research complicated your understanding of the views of those two men and how they relate to one another? >> absolutely. not just those two men, but many others. realize first that their ideas were very much, as henry wallace, he was a man seeing himself as the legacy of the fdr and the new deal and the desire to extend those democratic policies of the world. that is what people recognize that the time. that is what scared a lot of people. that is what made a lot of people like hoover very skeptical. by doing the research, you get to see both figures as beyond the slogans. see them behind the scenes, marrying thos

thank you. >> henry wallace always seemed like a strange choice for vice president.urt you think of fdr thinking of nsa successor. did you study much about how we settle on wallace? >> yes. he had a field of candidates that they wanted. it is basically jimmy burns or cordell hall were henry wallace. jimmy burns was too controversial. and i wasn't going to work, although he admired her in many other ways. it would not only run for president, which really laughed roosevelts mine because he was an adamant new deal. there is some other questions about him that later surfaced, so we will never know what kind of president he would then. yes, sir. >> circum- always seen the films in the newsreels of roosevelt and it shows he was actually quite handicapped. i was wondering do they know that their president was able to walk on the second a wheelchair? >> that's a good question. there's only four known photographs and existence of roosevelt in a wheelchair. he did not go out of its way to dramatize that obviously. when he was standing, he was always standing with the assistanc

henry wallace has turned over in his gravestone. >> we are pleased to have you here.ll be right back. ♪ >> where live 24/7 on bloomberg politics.com. and taking exception with our conventional wisdom. lots about our previous bloomberg politics poll but there is one coming tomorrow. you'll hear about it here. "taking stock is next. ♪ >> this is what i am taking stock of today. activist investor bill ackman pershing square holdings fell 12% in its trading debut in amsterdam. he said he has a new u.s. target in his sights. >> we intend to use the cash for a new commitment. we will announce in the next 45 to 60 days and the capital will go for that new investment. >> another debut. fiat chrysler shares began trading on the new york stock exchange. why t

another -- the story of henry wallace is fascinating.he was not a communist but all of his friends were. he was vice president of the united states before he's replaced by truman. bby theaids were spies soviets. they asked for tons of enriched uranium, and of course, the white house agreed because diplomacy carried the day. gross went berserk. went to george marshall. one-starperson as a person that can walk into george marshall's office screaming and throwing stuff and not get court-martials. he went into the office screaming bloody murder. convinced marshall of the stupid idea. then convinced stimson this is a very stupid idea. middle, slowede it down, and conceited as a compromise to give him one kilogram of enriched uranium, you cannot doich a lot with. this is 10% refined uranium. he cannot even make a reactor out of this. you need about 90% refinement of uranium to make a bomb. so, yes, he was very much -- they were very much looking to please the soviets because they were allies, but there was no transfer of uranium that made a di

henry wirz. he writes this before the proceedings have begun. therefore there is a bit of prejudice in the mind of the presiding officer. wallace had already tried on the commission to try the lincoln conspirators. that is one reason he was picked up for this duty. and wallace is a really important figure in the end of the american civil war for all sorts of reasons. he did not want to be in this commission. he wanted to be in mexico. he had this notion you could create a peace if the union could join with the confederates and say, let's put the war aside and have a joint venture into mexico where napoleon iii had installed maximillian as emperor, and there was a war going on. the idea was, we will liberate mexico together, and we will be able to annex parts of mexico. the war is over. like many people who have in mind peace, he has the next war in mind. he goes to brussels, texas, -- b texas, where he went 20 years before as a soldier in the mexican-american war. he was at that time having dreams of fearlessness and had read the great work on the conquest of mexico and was imbued with romance at the time. somewhat disenchanted